Allentown needed second-half heroics, especially in the final three minutes, to outlast Ewing for a 49-45 win Saturday that virtually locked up the Redbirds’ first division title.

All head coach Linda Weise’s team needs to do is beat Hightstown here Wednesday in its final CVC game to clinch its first ever Patriot title and deny nine-time champ Hopewell Valley a chance of retaining the title it has won the last eight years and shared with Allentown once.

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Allentown (16-5) is 14-2 in the CVC, and had it not rallied past Ewing would have likely shared the title with Hopewell Valley, which it rallied to beat Wednedsday.

Some HoVal girls were in the stands hoping Ewing could beat Allentown for the second time in two weeks and make them co-champs. It didn’t happen, although head coach Mike Reynolds’s team played maybe its best game.

The Blue Devils missed taking the lead in the final minute when they got called for charging, had a layup roll off the rim and saw Bianca Santos hit a foul shot at 0:11 and Kali Hartshorn a basket at 0.06 to end it.

“We didn’t win the game, but as long as we were able to compete for 32 minutes that’s what we wanted,” Reynolds said, “because we’re trying to build for next week (the Mercer County Tournament).”

He got what he wanted, because everyone he used contributed big with Rayanna Peterson getting nine points and nine rebounds, Yazmine Lacey providing a double-double and Gaby McRae playing maybe her best game with six points, eight boards and three steals.

Myleisha Richarson chipped in 10 boards, and Jasmine Murrill — two games back from an ankle injury — providing nine points before getting ejected late for getting involved in a scuffle for a loose ball at midcourt.

“The competitiveness they played with is a sign we wanted to see,” Reynolds said. “We definitely wanted to win the game, but it wasn’t in the cards. We can be in the (MCT) mix if we play that hard.”

So can A’town if it is more patient on offense, improves on 19-for-32 shooting from the free throw line and finishes with only two turnovers like it did against Ewing.

After 2-for-10 first half shooting, Hartshorn went 4-for-6 in the second half and 7-for-9 at the line as Weise had almost every girl she called on come up big.

“That was like a war,” Weise said. “I give Ewing a lot of credit, they came to play. We were down seven in the third quarter and just trying to get in front of their big girls for rebounds.”

“This has been a long time coming,” Weise said, anticipating her first outight CVC title after what the team had to survive Saturday.